Somewhere in your writer's head is a Master Plot, an idea of what a story or novel should be like, Continue Reading
October 24, 2012
Bad, Worse, Worst: Plan your Plots
Every scene must end in disaster. Really? EVERY scene? OK. Most scenes. I only say that every Continue Reading
October 22, 2012
Why Now? Believable Plots
One question that is often overlooked in plotting is "Why Now?" Let's say you want your character Continue Reading
July 17, 2012
Plotting Act 2: 23 Ways to Defeat the Sagging Middle!
I am plotting Act 2, and the terror of the empty page is hitting, take two. So, I'm going back to Continue Reading
July 10, 2012
PLOT: You MUST be Brutal
The biggest problem I have in planning a plot--still, after all these years--is that I am too nice Continue Reading
June 6, 2012
2 Questions to Develop Plot: What If? and What Next?
While I am struggling with plot, the main question I am asking is "What if?", closely followed by Continue Reading
May 25, 2012
Act 1: Lists and Discussions
I am hard at work on Act 1 of a new story that I am jokingly calling SHARKS. I have roughly Continue Reading
April 11, 2012
Plotting is Like a Jigsaw Puzzle
I always find that plotting a novel or longer story is like a jigsaw puzzle. How do you work a Continue Reading
March 1, 2010
Enrich a Story Plot
Last week I was wondering if I could combine two plots into one. One idea was for an Event and one Continue Reading
February 24, 2010
Novel Pacing=Constant Change
Finishing up the series on plot: We've talked about the outline level of plot, plotting with scenes Continue Reading
